Before I tell you what I have painted here, let your imagination run free for a spell.....
(Some see a bird, others see modern architecture, others have suggested some crafts from outer space....whatever you see, you are right....:)
What I did use as a model was some broken pieces of glass. Out on my morning walk I noticed some shards from a broken beer bottle as they lay sparkling in the sun and I thought they looked amazing. I took a photo, then used it as a model for the painting.
I recently watched a movie titled "Broken City" and it left me deep in thought.
I have heard the term "feeling broken" but I have never really spent much time pondering it, but after watching the movie, the thought of "feeling broken" has stayed with me.
Ernest Hemingway says this: "The world breakes everyone, and afterwards, some are strong in the broken places". "The reason the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself" suggests Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Most of us have probably had out hearts broken at some point or another, for a myriad of reasons.
Of course, our hearts don't really break, but it can sure feel like it when your hero turns out to be a villain, your lover becomes an enemy, your child a stranger, your friend a traitor, and your town/village/city rather than feeling like home now scares you.
Living is risky business, and the chances are that most of us will have our hearts broken at some point or another. Some wise folks even suggest that having our hearts broken is pretty much guaranteed, that it is part of the human experience. What we do after, how we piece it all back together again, is the thing.
Perhaps at times we rush too quickly to try and fix what's broken rather than allowing ourselves the time to feel and heal. (If we want to fix a broken vase/thing we need to use the right kind of "glue" or it will come undone again where the cracks(weaknesses) are.) Sometimes rushing to fix/solve something before we have a clear mind about what happened, we may inadvertently run straight into our next heart brake.
Taking time to breathe, to think, to acknowledge how we feel, giving ourselves a chance to catch up with our emotions can be very helpful for healing. Due to our "mirror-neurons", many of us find it hard to see others in pain and we want to "fix" it, find solutions, but often, the most helpful thing we can do is to be present, to listen, and to be lovingly patient while the other finds his/her way.
Perhaps at times it can be more considerate to ask the person in pain what you can do to help rather than "this is what you should do..." or "this is what I would do". As an artist there are many, many people who tell me what I should, ought, need, etc. to do to sell my art, to become more successful commercially and so on....and I understand that they are trying to be supportive, but at times, it does become somewhat tiring, which has lead me to understand that timing is very important when it comes to "helping" or fixing/solving. We can't change or understand what we don't acknowledge, we need to process the "broken pieces" before we try to put them together again, and we often need time to do so. At times when we feel broken we may feel tempted to view "everything" as broken, and we perhaps find ourselves questioning if we will ever feel whole again.
But we will. When we go through really difficult emotional experiences, we are also given an opportunity to learn, to grow, to change, to find new understandings of love.
Although, it does require that we eventually let go of the pain, resentment, anger, et cetera and look forward. Even though feeling broken is painful, sometimes it can feel more "comfortable" than opening oneself up for another potential "heart brake".
( Example: sometimes broken bones don't set right and have to be broken again in order to heal properly,... much to the consternation of the person with the broken bone.)
"Broken does not mean non-functioning, or incapacitated, it does however mean ready for repair."
(Shawn Boreta)
“It will be foolish not to get your heart broken, even once.
For having a broken heart makes you realise the immense capability it possesses to mend and heal itself and to love far more intensely,with every affixed piece of it that was once broken and torn apart..” (Sanhita Baruah)
"The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. The pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear."
(Henri Nouwen)
Have you ever seen a stained glass window? There are many amazingly beautiful ones... they are made from innumerable broken pieces of glass, arranged together and held in place with strips of soft lead to make one breathtaking piece of art.
Are we humans not a bit like that? Lots of broken pieces to make one amazing whole, held together by hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment